1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and information processing method, and program storing medium, and particularly relates to an information processing apparatus and information processing method, and program storing medium, wherein users can efficiently search out desired contents, based on attributes data recording in a manner correlated with saved contents.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of file s recorded by personal computers are arranged and saved by the user in a hierarchical structure. For example, in the event that Windows 98 (Registered Trademark) is being used as the operating system, the files are kept in a directory (i.e., in xe2x80x9cfoldersxe2x80x9d). Each folder can be named and classified. Creating folders inside folders allows the files to be managed hierarchically (nested).
For example, as shown in FIG. 1, in the event of organizing and recording music data in a folder xe2x80x9cCONTENTSxe2x80x9d, the file tree structure can be confirmed using a shell program (a software module realizing a user interface provided to the user by the operating system for opening, copying, and deleting files, activating programs, and so forth).
The display window 1 of the shell program has two panes, one to the right and the other to the left, and of these the one to the left displays a tree display area 2 for displaying the directory tree, and the one to the right displays a list display area 3 for displaying a list of files or folders in a currently-selected directory.
In FIG. 1, four folders are contained in the folder xe2x80x9cCONTENTSxe2x80x9d, namely, xe2x80x9cBY ARTISTxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cBY ALBUMxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cFAVORITE MUSIC PIECESxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cBY GENRExe2x80x9d. Each of the folders further contain folders or files. For example, the xe2x80x9cBY GENRExe2x80x9d folder contains the four folders of xe2x80x9cCLASSICALxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cJAZZxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cPOPS, and xe2x80x9cWESTERN MUSICxe2x80x9d.
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the folder xe2x80x9cCLASSICALxe2x80x9d further can also contain many more folders. As shown in FIG. 3, the user can classify and manage a great number of contents files according to finely divided classification, by putting the contents files (e.g., xe2x80x9cMUSIC PIECE Axe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cMUSIC PIECE Bxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cMUSIC PIECE Cxe2x80x9d shown in FIG. 3) hierarchically below the folders.
There are so-called jukebox applications for managing contents data downloaded from a WWW server or contents data read into a personal computer from a CD (Compact Disk) or the like, playing the contents, or writing the contents from the personal computer to other removable disks. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display window displayed on the display of the personal computer in the event that the jukebox program has been activated. A great number of contents files can be classified and managed according to finely divided classification following the concept of the hierarchical structure described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 3, using such a jukebox as well.
For example, with the case shown in FIG. 4, the classification method and hierarchical structure used is as follows: xe2x80x9cartist music piece (i.e., a contents file)xe2x80x9d; xe2x80x9calbumxe2x86x92music piecexe2x80x9d; xe2x80x9cgenrexe2x86x92music piecexe2x80x9d; xe2x80x9cartist albumxe2x86x92music piecexe2x80x9d; xe2x80x9cgenrexe2x86x92artistxe2x86x92music piecexe2x80x9d; xe2x80x9cgenrexe2x86x92albumxe2x86x92music piecexe2x80x9d; xe2x80x9cgenrexe2x86x92artistxe2x86x92albumxe2x86x92music piecexe2x80x9d, and so on. That is to say, the contents files are located at the lowest level of the hierarchical structure.
However, with jukeboxes and other such applications managing contents files using conventional tree structures, the contents files cannot be reached unless folders on the lowest level are opened, so the user cannot play contents data or move the contents data to other folders without tracking a complex hierarchical structure and find the folders containing the contents files the user desires. This problem is characterized in that making the classification more general in order to simplify the hierarchical structure results in a great number of contents files belonging to a single class, while making the classification finer results in a great number of entrances to the tree structure, so reaching the desire contents file becomes troublesome.
The present invention has been made in light of the above problem, and accordingly, it is an object thereof to enable users to efficiently search out desired contents, based on attributes data recording in a manner correlated with saved contents.
The information processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: input means for receiving input of operations from a user; first recording means for recording a plurality of contents; second recording means for recording attributes data of the contents, corresponding to the contents recorded by the first recording means; first display means for displaying a plurality of first items indicating virtual classification of the contents with a hierarchical structure, based on the attributes data recorded by the second recording means; searching means for searching for the contents having attributes corresponding to the first item selected by the user from the plurality of first items displayed by the first display means, based on signals indicating operations of the user input by the input means; and second display means for displaying information relating to the contents searched by the searching means.
The first display means may display, for each hierarchical level for the virtual classification, a second item indicating all contents virtually classified into the hierarchical level; the searching means may further search the contents having attributes corresponding to at least one of the first items at a higher hierarchical level than the second item, in the event that signals indicating that the second item has been selected are input by the input means; and the second display means may further display information relating to the contents searched by the searching means.
The information processing apparatus may further comprise receiving means for receiving audio data from other information processing apparatuses via a network, wherein the contents include the audio data received by the receiving means, and may also comprise reading means for reading audio data from other information processing apparatuses, wherein the contents data includes the audio data read in by the reading means.
The information processing method according to the present invention comprises: an input step for receiving input of operations from a user; a first recording step for recording a plurality of contents; a second recording step for recording attributes data of the contents, corresponding to the contents recorded by the processing in the first recording step; a first display step for displaying a plurality of first items indicating virtual classification of the contents with a hierarchical structure, based on the attributes data recorded by the processing in the second recording step; a searching step for searching for the contents having attributes corresponding to the first item selected by the user from the plurality of first items displayed by the processing in the first display step, based on signals indicating operations of the user input by the processing in the input step; and a second display step for displaying information relating to the contents searched by the processing in the searching step.
The program stored in the program storing medium according to the present invention comprises: code for an input step for receiving input of operations from a user; code for a first recording step for recording a plurality of contents; code for a second recording step for recording attributes data of the contents, corresponding to the contents recorded by the processing in the first recording step; code for a first display step for displaying a plurality of first items indicating virtual classification of the contents with a hierarchical structure, based on the attributes data recorded by the processing in the second recording step; code for a searching step for searching for the contents having attributes corresponding to the first item selected by the user from the plurality of first items displayed by the processing in the first display step, based on signals indicating operations of the user input by the processing in the input step; and code for a second display step for displaying information relating to the contents searched by the processing in the searching step.
With the information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program stored in the program storing medium, according to the present invention, operations are input from a user, multiple contents are recorded, attributes data of the contents is recorded according to the recorded contents, multiple first items are displayed in a hierarchical structure indicating a virtual classification of contents based on the recorded attributes data, contents having attributes corresponding to the first item selected by the user of the multiple displayed first items are searched for based on signals indicating operations from the user, and information relating to the searched contents is displayed.